slowly, and with
a certain consciousness of the effect of his own singularly handsome
person, towards the party. The good squire received him with his usual
kindness, and informed him, according to that lucidus ordo which he so
especially favoured, of the whole particulars of their excursion. There
was something worthy of an artist's sketch in the scene at that moment:
the old squire in his chair, with his benevolent face turned towards
Clifford, and his hands resting on his cane, Clifford himself bowing
down his stately head to hear the details of the father; the beautiful
daughter on the other side of the chair, her laugh suddenly stilled, her
gait insensibly more composed, and blush chasing blush over the smooth
and peach-like loveliness of her cheek; the party, of all sizes, ages,
and attire, affording ample scope for the caricaturist; and the pensive
figure of Augustus Tomlinson (who, by the by, was exceedingly like
Liston) standing apart from the rest, on the brow of the hill where
Clifford had left him, and moralizing on the motley procession, with
one hand hid in his waistcoat, and the other caressing his chin, which
slowly and pendulously with the rest of his head moved up and down.

As the party approached the brow of the hill, the view of the city
below was so striking that there was a general pause for the purpose of
survey. One young lady in particular drew forth her pencil, and began
sketching, while her mamma looked complacently on, and abstractedly
devoured a sandwich. It was at this time, in the general pause, that
Clifford and Lucy found themselves--Heaven knows how!--next to each
other, and at a sufficient distance from the squire and the rest of the
party to feel in some measure alone. There was a silence in both which
neither dared to break; when Lucy, after looking at and toying with a
flower that she had brought from the place which the party had been to
see, accidentally dropped it; and Clifford and herself stooping at the
same moment to recover it, their hands met. Involuntarily, Clifford
detained the soft fingers in his own; his eyes, that encountered hers,
so spell-bound and arrested them that for once they did not sink beneath
his gaze; his lips moved, but many and vehement emotions so suffocated
his voice that no sound escaped them. But all the heart was in the eyes
of each; that moment fixed their destinies. Henceforth there was an
era from which they dated a new existence; a nucleus around